Many cliff inscriptions of 1,700 years old have been found in
the Three Gorges area on the Yangtze River. Located on steep cliffs
above torrential rapids, these carvings are hard to be reached or
made rubbings of. That's why they could be reserved until today.
When sailing on the river, one will have the chance to read this
"rare book" and admire the wonderful legacy of art left by the
Chinese ancestors. For historians, these inscriptions are messages
passed down from remote antiquity, which reflect the changes of
time.
Cliff carving has a very long history in China. It spread widely
in the Qin (221-206 B.C.) and Han (206 B.C.-A.D.220) dynasties,
flourished in the later period of the Han Dynasty and continued to
develop during the Three Kingdoms (220-280) and Jin Dynasty
(265-420). By the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, all
events, big or small, were recorded with stone carvings. Later,
stone inscriptions became increasingly prosperous and prevailed to
every corner of China.
Combining words and images, the art of stone carving was widely
used through all dynasties to record history, eulogize virtues and
achievements, express beliefs and adoration, and convey affection.
Today, research on stone inscriptions has become an important part
of history studies in China.
The major cliff carvings existing in the Three Gorges area are
from different dynasties, two from the Han Dynasty, one from the
Jin Dynasty, seven from the Tang Dynasty, one from the Five
Dynasties (907-960), eight from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), one
from the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and nine from the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644). They reflect the economic, political and social lives
in different historical periods of China.
Buddha washing feet
Sailing upstream on the Yangtze River from Chongqing, you will soon
see a laughing Buddha on the bank near E'gongyan Bridge in Jicui
Village. Sitting cross-legged and wearing a high hair bun, he has a
plump face with kind expressions. Facing the river, the Buddha has
a good visual field.
Ming Yuzhen, leader of a peasant rebellion in the end of the
Yuan Dynasty, established the 7.5-meter-high statue, hoping the
Buddha would bless the safety of the boats coming and going. It is
the largest carved image found on the cliff surfaces in the Three
Gorges Reservoir area and the only Buddhist statue confirmed to
have been built by a peasant uprising army.
The Buddha sits at an altitude of 180 meters above sea level.
After the third-stage water storage in the Three Gorges Reservoir,
the water level will rise to reach the bottom of the statue,
inviting the Buddha to wash his feet in the Yangtze River and
making it easy for visitors to admire the art work in close
distance.
At the rear part of the cliff, a Five-Buddha Hall houses the
carvings in the images of Dharma, Buddha and Bodhisattvas,
including Manjusri and Samantabhadra. The five exquisitely-carved
Buddhist statues, all over 10 meters high, are in the art styles of
Mongolia and Tibet.
Reflections of lives in thousand
years
A large number of cliff inscriptions has been found in Yunyang
County, including those in Liugangshi, Shejiazui, Feifengshan,
Dafotou and Pengxikou, as well as cliff paintings at Niuweishi.
They cover nearly all kinds of stone inscriptions.
The inscriptions are mainly divided into three categories:
statues carved on cliffs, stone inscriptions, and cliff paintings.
The statues carved on cliffs are similar to those in the grottoes
in north China, though they are in different artistic styles. The
Three Gorges area boasts 15 cliff statues, which symbolize the
southward spread of Buddhism, 60-odd calligraphy inscriptions and
one ink mark.
The Niuyanshi cliff paintings are situated on the southern bank
of the Yangtze River in Fengming Township of Yunyang County, at an
elevation of 120 meters above sea level. They can be seen only in
dry seasons. They are paintings of single lines. One of them
depicts a fence, with poles erected high, on top of which are hung
fish and shrimps. Within the fence is a house where people move
about. The paintings also include some unrecognizable
characters.
According to Li Hongsong, deputy director of Ancient Building
and Historic Site Protection Center under the China Cultural Relics
Research Institute, he and his colleagues have not yet found an
accurate method to define the period of a cliff painting.
Generally, the age of a cliff painting is judged by the animal
images depicted or comparing them with similar cliff paintings
already found. For instance, a Niuyanshi painting depicts
three-angular deer, which had disappeared long time ago. From the
fish and shrimp drying scene, we can judge the Niuweishi ancestors
lived on fishing at that time. The painting shows the living and
sacrificing activities of ancient fishing tribe. Now the Niuyanshi
cliff paintings have been disjointed, ready for moving to another
place for future indoor display.
At the place where the Pengxi River joins the Yangtze River,
there are three pieces of inscriptions cut in the 20th year of the
Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Though now having
been submerged in water, they are important materials for the study
of local culture. One of them is carved with four characters "du
juan yi du", meaning "solely-sponsored free ferry"; the other two
record the reason and time of free shipping.
As the Three Gorges area has steep and dangerous topography and
crisscross gullies, it was hard for ancient people to build roads
and bridges. Therefore ferry became an important means of
transportation and many docks were set up. However, most of these
docks were owned by individuals for making profits. Under such
situation, free ferry was deeply loved and respected by common
people.
Today, the dock at the Pengxi river mouth is still in use.
Besides ferrying, people also thought out a new way of boating. On
each side of the river, they set up a pillar. Between them they
fastened a metal cable, to which they tied a thick rope. The boat
then could be dragged on. This is the oldest way of ferrying in
ancient China.
Of the Three Gorges, Qutang Gorge is famous for its peril, and
Kuimen holds the throat of it. Some inscriptions are found right at
this significant site. On a stone wall of about 1,000 square meters
in size under the cliff of Baiyan Mountain on the southern bank of
the Yangtze River, seal characters, official scripts, regular
scripts and running scripts are engraved in different historical
periods, from the Song Dynasty to the Republic of China
(1911-1949). The large characters are as big as two-square-meter
each, while the tiny ones are only of a finger's size.
The tablet carrying "Ode to the Resurgence of the Song Dynasty"
penned by calligrapher Zhao Gongshuo is a rarely seen large-scale
cliff inscription. It is four meters high and seven meters wide,
recording the political achievements and accomplishments of
emperors Gaozong and Xiaozong. The latter was thought to be an
outstanding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, but his
renovation actually achieved little effect due to containment from
different sides. During his 28-year reign, Gaozong, considered as a
"super-emperor", exerted great influence on important political and
military decisions. Emperor Gaozong's abdicating in favor of his
son played an important role in later historic development. As
there are few records existing in other records, the tablet fills
the gap and is therefore called "a living history book".
The inscriptions are done with exquisite carving skill, in a
style of both graceful and bold. To protect it, later generations
covered each word with a big bowl-shape shelter and applied
limestone on it. From afar, the cliff looks like a whitewashed
wall. Hence its other name, Fenbi (Chalk) Wall. Now the bowls and
limestone have fallen long ago, but the characters remain well
preserved.
On the wall, there are also works such as "Poem to Qutang Gorge"
composed in 1454 by Ming-dynasty poet Shen Qing, and the large
characters of "Qutang" and "Kuimen" originally written by Zhang
Boxiang and Liu Xinyuan of the Qing Dynasty. The inscriptions "Wei
Zai Kui Men", meaning "lofty Kuimen Pass", by the hand of Li
Duanhao, chief of staff of the 88th division of the Kuomintang
army, are 4X2.34 meters in size. Any stroke of these words is big
enough for a person to lie on it. People can also see such regular
scripts as "Stepping out of Kuimen and Wushan and driving away
Japanese pirates" by Feng Yuxiang, a Kuomintang general and "Kuimen
is the most perilous passage in the world, but our boat lightly
passed through" by Sun Yuanliang, a division commander of
Kuomintang troops.
At a higher place on the same cliff, there are two pieces of
inscriptions as like as two peas. It is hard to distinguish which
is new and which is old. It turns out to be a way of protection. As
the original inscriptions are too large to be moved, craftsmen
cover them with a steel wire net so as to avoid crashing by ships
once they are submerged. Meanwhile, the craftsmen are replicating
these inscriptions at a higher position on the cliff.
Proper protection
Historical sites are cherished because of their long-time cultural
accumulations. But how to avoid losing their inside information
during the process of moving these inscriptions? Li Hongsong,
deputy director of Ancient Building and Historic Site Protection
Center, expressed his own ideas. Cultural relics should not be
protected by setting up monuments, but by prolonging their life in
a scientific way, he said. The aim of protecting the Qutang Gorge
stone inscriptions is not only to restore them but also to truly
record the history in them. The new stone inscriptions, as one way
of protection, should be integrated with the surrounding
environment. He insists that higher requirements should be set for
the site selection and restoration project.
According to Li, of the 13 pieces of stone inscription works,
four will be cut out and relocated, four will be replicated and the
other five will be carved artificially. The tablet carrying "Ode to
the Resurgence of the Song Dynasty" will be cut out in whole piece
and migrated to the newly built Three Gorges Museum in
Chongqing.
Archaeologists, together with geologists and related engineers,
investigated the gorges area several times, mapping, sampling,
analyzing and calculating, for working out a plan to protect the
cultural relics in the area. At last they chose a site 500 meters
downstream from the original one for the replicas. It is a
precipitous valley, composed of steep cliffs and gentle slopes. The
cliffs rise as high as 200 meters, while the top of the slopes is
also at an elevation of 180 meters. It, to a large degree,
preserves the natural scenes and human landscapes of the original
site. The conditions for replicating inscriptions are also
great.
The migration of stone inscriptions puts forward harsher
requirement for cultural relic protection. The most advanced way of
cutting is employed, which causes little trembling in work and has
little harm on the relics. Also, three-dimensional technology is
used to project the original characters onto the new cliff wall. In
the following step, experts will depict each piece of the works
carefully. After repeated revision, craftsmen will carve them with
chisels. When the whole work is completed, a new chalk wall
measuring 190 meters long will appear on the cliffs on the Yangtze
River again.
Li said that protection of stone inscriptions will be carried
out in four ways: material collecting, protection on the original
site, moving to other places or making replicas at the new sites,
and displaying. Most inscriptions will be protected in the first
two ways and few will be moved to other places, such as the
carvings on the Chalk Wall and Niuweishi cliff paintings.
Water is a primary factor in the Three Gorges culture. The life,
transportation and economy of the ancient people here are all
closely related to water. For instance, the cliff painting at
Niuweishi depicts the fishing life of ancient people. As fishermen
often quarreled with each other over the ownership of fishing
docks, they sometimes set up tablets beside their docks to mark the
building process and ownership. With the development of water
transport, commercial shipping became an important living way for
the Three Gorges ancestors. As this area was rich in well salt,
many people lived on the shipping of salt. A tablet in Fuling
records such an event. The inscriptions also depict the
dangerousness of the place. Many of them record events such as road
and ship building, navigation route harnessing and compulsory
ferry, notice of danger or praying for peace. Other inscriptions
reflect the history and politics of the Three Gorges area. The "Ode
to the Resurgence of the Song Dynasty" is one such example. The
stone in Liugang showed military establishment of the Qing Dynasty
in Yunyang County.
What should also be mentioned is the art value of these
inscriptions: the poems of famous literary figures, rich styles of
calligraphy and exquisite sculptures always remain an attraction to
visitors.
(Beijing Youth Daily translated by Li Jinhui for China.org.cn,
December 3, 2003)
